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Centerville • For weeks, construction workers and volunteers have put finishing touches on the new Davis Center for the Performing Arts in preparation for the curtain rising this Monday on the facility's first public performance.
The center's main venue — the 516-seat CenterPoint Legacy Theatre — is a far cry from the 15,000-square-foot storefront that Rodgers Memorial Theatre volunteers enlivened over the past two decades.
"The old site was a Radio Shack and fabric store converted into a theater" that sat 265, said the group's executive producer, Scott Van Dyke. "People would come out of there saying that for being in a strip mall, we put on a pretty darn good show."
The new location at 525 N. 400 West features the main stage with its three-piece lift, a 200-seat black-box theater, dressing rooms, a costume-design area, costume cage and more. A small amphitheater is roughed in on the building's west side.
"Now my concern is that they'll see this wonderful new facility and say, 'Bring on Broadway,' " Van Dyke said. "The expectations have now tripled for us."
That means building bigger sets and using the new lift and multiple-curtain array to their best advantage.
"It keeps us up at nights worrying about set pieces that are three times as big and those kinds of things," Van Dyke said. "The challenge is there for us as a theater organization to put on very quality shows — which we're confident we can do."
Susan Bellomy, CenterPoint's marketing and development director, described the new lift's versatility, with three sections that raise 18 feet per minute, either independently or as one unit.
"So you can melt the witch in the Wizard of Oz, raise up the mountains in the Sound of Music and then also turn the beast into a prince," Bellomy said, referring to "Beauty and the Beast."
Debuting on Valentine's Day, an all-volunteer cast will christen CenterPoint with "Hairspray," a 1960s-themed musical that tells the story of Baltimore teenager Tracy Turnblad. The pleasantly plump young woman wins a chance to dance on a local TV show, only to find herself fighting the producer's unfair practices.
All parts are double-cast; Bryon Finch and David Marsden fill the role of Edna, Tracy's mother.
"This is what happens when you have very large men you have to costume as a woman," said costume designer Kathy Seegmiller, pointing to a size 46DDD bra stuffed with memory foam.
"We were going to pay $25 to buy one online," said costume mistress Wendy Nagao. "Then we saw this hanging in a DI [Deseret Industries thrift store] and spent $2 for it. We were thrilled to get it and they were thrilled to have it go."
And Nagao and Seegmiller are thrilled with their new digs in the center's lower level, which includes a cage where current production costumes are kept, plus fitting rooms, a laundry, large design area — and extra storage where multiple shelves are stocked with color-coded fabrics.
"We can shop here first before we go to the fabric store," Nagao said of donated remnants, which used to be inconveniently stashed in large garbage bags.
On the recent Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, a volunteer arrived with four ninth-grade boys and neatly organized the stacks.
"It's been delightful to be able to say, 'I need a piece of pink chiffon,' " Nagao said, "and I knew right where it was."
The $14.2-million facility was funded by a Recreation, Arts and Parks tax passed by Bountiful and Centerville, along with deferred tax dollars from Davis County. The nonprofit theater company will contribute $500,000 of the total cost, Bellomy said.
The CenterPoint Academy — which offers theater training for tots through teens — is housed in the new Centerville facility.
"I love all phases of what we do here," said Margo Rodgers Beecher. "It's almost magical to watch what happens to the young people individually because of the performing skills that we teach."
Bellomy summed up the synergy that makes community productions so valuable: "It's theater of the people, by the people and for the people."
For more information on the new Davis Center for the Performing Arts, go to http://www.centerpointtheatre.org.
The Davis Center for the Performing Arts
At 525 N. 400 West in Centerville
516-seat CenterPoint Legacy Theatre, 200-seat black-box theatre, intimate outdoor amphitheater
"Hairspray," directed by Jim Christian, opens on Valentine's Day and runs through March 12 with shows Monday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets from $15 to $18. For details, call 801-298-1302.